The Rascals' Guitarist Gene Cornish Collapses On Stage

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Gene Cornish of TheRascals collapsed on stage while performing in Montana but is expected to recover.

Cornish, 74, was still hospitalised but was resting comfortably after he collapsed on Friday the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings, his publicist Melissa Kucirek said.

Kucirek said she did not know what caused Cornish to collapse.

"Gene is working with doctors to remedy (the problem) and get back to doing what he loves most," Kucirek said in an email.

Jody Grant, programming and marketing director for thetheater, told the Billings Gazette newspaper that medical personnel used a defibrillator and performed CPR on Cornish before he was taken to the hospital.

Cornish’s fiancee, Debbee Davis, provided an update on her Facebook page: "We are so grateful and thankful to that woman who jumped up on stage and [began] all necessary steps and trying to save someone’s life until the paramedics got there and all those who worked very hard to revive him!! Such a scary experience in deed!."

"He went into cardiac arrest on stage due to the failure of the electric [signals]... A pacemaker or small defibrillator will be used to prevent this in the future! I’ll find out more hopefully today... always a reminder how life can change in an instant."

Cornish reassured fans on Facebook that he was recovering well: "I want to thank all my friends and fans for the wonderful wishes and support I am doing great !!! I’ll be back real soon Better than ever."

The band had just finished the first song of the show, and was beginning to play one of the band's 1960s hits, 'A Beautiful Morning', when Cornish collapsed.